


Runaway Train

by edgelordjonesthethird



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Domestic Bliss, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Teen Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-23
Updated: 2017-05-23
Packaged: 2018-11-03 23:38:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,334
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10977780
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/edgelordjonesthethird/pseuds/edgelordjonesthethird
Summary: Darkness brings the most important women in Jughead’s life together.Trigger Warnings: Mentions of child abuse.





	Runaway Train

**Author's Note:**

> Trigger Warnings: Mentions of child abuse.

I

It wasn’t a picturesque Summer day, the kind that made you want to go rafting down Sweet Water River. Instead it was the kind of day her mother would compare to pea soup; hot, sticky, the kind of day where all you wanted to do was lie around in your underwear which is exactly what Betty Cooper was doing at this exact second. She had the first weeks of Summer that way, hidden away with Jughead in his father’s trailer; just them, no responsibilities. As far as CPS knew Jughead was in that overcrowded foster home and Betty had been spending all her time with Veronica.  
The cool air blows out of a small A/C unit, the only source relief in the hot box of a home; she watched from her spot propped up against the pillows as the muscles on his back flexed through the thin white fabric of his work boots; she missed the sight reveling in the moment it was too hot to wear his leather jacket. Betty sat up and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, burying her face in the crook of his neck and placing a gentle kiss.  
Jughead let out a raspy chuckle. “Bets, are you trying to make me late for work?” he asked as he turned his head to nuzzle cheek.  
“Maybe,” she smirked. “I just wish you could have the day off with me.”  
Betty had taken a job at the register for the Summer as fact checker four days a week, her mother had given her the other three days off to practice for extracurricular activities the upcoming school year. She would never tell her mother what those extracurriculars really were, though she suspected Alice already knew.  
“I will be back soon,” He reassured her, pressing a kiss to her forehead. “Then we can go to Pop’s for dinner, maybe bring some dessert home.” Jughead added with a wink.  
“Maybe just maybe I don’t feel like going home to two screaming babies.” Betty sighed, falling back against the bed. She hadn’t had a moment of peace in the nearly three months her nieces were on the planet.  
“You know you’re always welcome to stay here, Bets” Jughead reminded her, standing up. He walked over and planted one last kiss on her lips. “Just remember- “  
“Don’t go in the hallway closet?” Betty finished with a smirk. “I never do, don’t worry.”  
Sure, Betty was curious what dark secrets were hiding in that hallway closet, but she would never overstep his boundaries like that.  
“That’s why I love you,” He grinned, stealing one more kiss.  
“Among other reasons, I would hope,” she teased.  
II  
Betty had drifted off again with Hot Dog curled at her feet, she felt absolutely scandalous doing so, sleeping past eight-thirty on a weekday was unheard of in her house, her reverie was interrupted when she heard tires screeching, the front door slam, and a shuffle in the other room. She shot out of bed instantly, shoving on a pair of shorts and Jughead’s black tank top. If she was about to go down, it was not going to be in her frilly pink underwear. The turf war between the two sides of town had gotten pretty bad lately, most days Jughead wouldn’t let her walk home on her own; he was the honorary Prince of the Southside, making her the princess meaning she was a possible target of other gangs. There was a creak in the hallway near the outside of the bedroom door; she grabbed a baseball bat that lay propped up against the wall and threw the door opening; expecting to see a giant burly man but it was nothing of the sort.  
Instead she was greeted by a small girl, she couldn’t have been more than ten or eleven; dark hair, much similar to Jughead’s fell down her back, she had dark eyes one lined with a black eye. The little girl wore an oversized ‘Pink Floyd’ t-shirt as a dress and a pair of leopard print leggings She looked up at Betty and then at bat, raising an eyebrow. Though, she had never met the girl before, and had only seen dated pictures, she knew her through stories.  
Betty lowered the bat, “Jellybean?” she inquired, with a soft smile.  
“You must be Betty,” The little girl grinned. “I’ve heard a lot about you, Jughead must really like you, especially since he actually smiles most times while talking about you.”  
Betty felt something flutter down in her stomach, she wanted to know what he had said about her but she would not inquire what he had told her; that was inappropriate, she was a child. A child who was dumped out of here with an incredibly blackened eye.  
She took the little girl’s face in her hand, causing her to flinch. “We should ice that,” Betty suggested.  
“It’s fine, I got it in fight club, but don’t tell anybody I told you that because that’s breaking the rules.” Jellybean insisted with a flinch, she was definitely Jughead’s sister.  
“Do you need me to run it for you?” Betty wasn’t really familiar with what a child her age was and wasn’t capable of.  
“I think I got it,” Jellybean snorted, she then walked over to the hallway closet. “I just need to grab something to wear.”  
Betty rushed over to stop the girl from opening the offending closet, the one Betty had always been told not to open, technically Betty hadn’t so nothing was stopping her from sneaking a peek. In the closet contained a stack of boxes labeled everything from ‘Jellybean’s clothes’ to ‘Jellybean’s music’. The little girl stood on her tippy toes, grunting as she tried to reach her box of clothes.  
“Would you mind grabbing that for me?” Jellybean asked, lightly. “I promise we can talk more when I come out, I just really need a shower.”  
Betty nodded and reached up to grab the box, through the corner of her eye she saw Jellybean examining her, curiously. When she had a grip on the box she handed it down to the little girl. She figured the little girl would stop staring but she still had her eyes on Betty, on her neck particularly.  
“Do you curl your hair?” Jellybean inquired, innocently.  
“Sometimes, why?”  
“I think you burnt your neck,” The little girl whispered, pointing to area on her own neck. “Does that hurt?”  
Betty looked in the mirror that was drilled to the inside of the closet door, there was no burn but there was a redness in the form of a hickey she had received the previous night. Her cheeks turned as red as Archie’s hair. “Ouch, how did I miss that?” She laughed, nervously. “Why don’t you go take that shower?”  
“Yeah, that sounds like a good idea, are the towels where they usually are?”  
“In the cabinet above the toilet?” Betty hoped that was correct, because that’s where she had always been familiar with them.  
“Yeah that’s the place,” Jellybean dug out some clothes from the box and limped into the bathroom shutting the door behind her.  
Betty immediately when back to the bedroom and called Jughead, something needed to be done, but she needed to talk to him first. She rubbed Hot Dog’s ears while she waited for somebody on the other end to pick up. “Hey, Bets, everything okay?” Jughead finally said.  
“Jellybean is here, I heard tires screeching and then she was in the hall, I’m worried, Jug, because your Mom is nowhere to be seen.” Betty whispered, carefully. “She’s hurt.”  
There was a smashing on the other end followed by heavy breathing. “Motherfucker,” Jughead growled. “I think it’s my Mom’s new boyfriend, Jellybean has been off the past few weeks; not as talkative and kind of vacant when we Skype, can you do me a favor?”  
“Anything.”  
“I’m a couple hours away for this job site, Mr. Andrews drove so I can’t get back right away, lock the door and keep an eye on her.” Jughead pleaded. “She has the other half of my heart.”  
“I will, Juggie, I promise I will keep her safe.”  
“I know you will, I don’t trust anybody else.”

III  
Betty busied herself in the kitchen, luckily, they had gone to the grocery store that week; she wasn’t exactly sure what to make so she settled to making grilled cheese. The little girl had been taking a particularly long time in the shower, Betty decided to go check; the water had been running an awfully long time, almost an hour. She knocked on the door, but the faulty door opened and gasped at the sight in front of her. Jellybean was curled on the floor wrapped in a towel, bruises covered her porcelain skin and she was rocking and crying.  
The older girl crawled over to her and hesitantly put a hand on her back. “Hey, hey you’re safe,” she mumbled. Betty turned to the pile of clothes on the toilet lid and handed them to JB. “Come out when you’re ready, okay, honey?”  
“Betty,” the little girl sniffled, grabbing her arm. “I’m scared, I want my Mom even though I know she can’t be here right now.”  
“Why can’t she, JB?” Betty asked, quietly. “Where is your Mom, is she in trouble?”  
“Her…boyfriend did something bad to me, but he was the police chief in Toledo.” She started sobbing. “Mama found out…and we had to leave in the night, she left me here to hide with Jughead and went to stay with Auntie Stacey until we figure it out.”  
The little girl wrapped her arms around Betty snugly and sobbed into her shirt, she felt the little girl relax; it was probably her brother’s scent; that had to be it. “Shhh, Jellybean, we won’t let anything else bad happen to you, I promise,” she crooned.  
“I know, I trust you.” Jellybean whimpered. “If Jughead of all people trusts you then I trust you.”  
Betty kissed the top of the little girl’s head and just held her silently for a few more minutes. Jellybean composed herself and took the pile of clothes that Betty had given her. “I’m going to give you a few minutes to get dressed.”  
The blonde stood up and closed the bathroom door behind her, quickly wiping her eyes; how could somebody do something so heinous to a child? She had to make sure something was done, luckily, she had some resources at her hands, with her love life and her lineage. She took her phone out again and called the only other person she could think of. “Viper, it’s Betty,” She greeted when she heard an answer.  
“Oh hey, Blondie.” Viper hailed. “What’s got you calling us?”  
“Jellybean and Gladys Jones are in trouble.”  
“I’m listening.”  
IV  
When Jughead finally returned home, he practically ripped the door off the hinges; he was expecting to see the whole house in chaos. But it’s surprisingly calm, Betty was sitting behind Jellybean on the bed who is wrapped in a bathrobe while she had her hair braided. A Pink Floyd vinyl played on the record player, one that had been taken out of the hall closet where he had been storing all of Jellybean’s possessions to keep in pristine condition; he had told her and promised her that he would not let anybody, including Betty touch anything. He knew she had kept her promise.  
He didn’t make his presence known quite yet, he observed the situation carefully. Jellybean looks worn out, holding a makeshift icepack to her eye, and suddenly his homicidal urge is welling up in his chest; he rarely feels this way but his heart is involved.  
“I have something I like to do when I can’t keep my mind off things,” Betty says, gently. “It’s a little game, to take my mind off things, wanna try?”  
Jellybean bit at her lip then hissed in pain; she had clearly forgotten it was busted. “What’s the game?” She replied timidly. “I’m not really good at them.”  
“It’s called the alphabet game, I heard you like music so we can do it with bands,” Betty explained with a light laugh. “I’ll start, A is for Abba.”  
Jellybean gagged playfully.  
“I know, silly, now it’s your turn, so B is for…” Betty urged, as she continued to braid the little girl’s hair.  
“Blondie!” Jellybean interjected. “C is for…”  
Betty and Jellybean both went quiet, they both seemed to struggle to come up with a title; Jughead decided this was the perfect time to make himself known. “Coheed and Cambria,” he snorted.  
Jellybean’s eyes darted to the door way and within seconds she was throwing herself at her older brother. “Juggie!” She sobbed, the composure she had been quickly shattering when she saw her brother. “I missed you so much.”  
Jughead had the little girl in his arms in seconds. “Jellybean…” he buried his face in her hair. “I’m here, you’re safe.”  
Jellybean met her brother’s eyes. “I was so scared,” she sniffled. “But don’t worry, Betty took care of me, she even called Daddy’s friends to help us out, you know the big scary ones?”  
Jughead’s eyes widened he hadn’t exactly told his Mom or sister about his involvement with the Serpents. “Oh yeah?” he asked. “You weren’t scared of them?”  
“I’m not scared of anything, Juggie. “Jellybean insisted, she looked down at the ground. “Except Mom’s boyfriend, I’m sure you know by now…”  
“I figured something was going on, but don’t worry, we’re going to get you some help, okay?” Jughead squeezed his sister. “You don’t ever have to go back there.”  
Betty who had been quietly watching the scene before her unfold got up and started to collect her stuff, quietly. “I’m going to go home and let you two have your family time,” she declared. “Call you later?”  
Jughead began to talk but Jellybean beat him to the punch.  
“But, Betty, you are family.”


End file.
